Expanded wood lath.



J. A. WALLER.

EXPANDED WOOD LATH. APPLICATION rmfb mm. 28, I918.

1,314,106. I Patented Aug. 26,1919.

I I 6 Z UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN AUGUST WALLER, OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO EXPANDED WOOD LATH CORPORATION, OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION.

EXPANDED WOOD LATH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Application filed March 28, 1918. Serial No. 225,169.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it 'known that I, JOHN A. WALLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highland Park, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Expanded WVood Lath, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to building material and construction and has particular reference to expanded Wood lath. The general objects of the invention are to provide wood lath in a form of construction which may be manufactured at comparatively small cost compared with expanded metal forms, in both amount of material and labor; to provide expanded lath which will firmly adhere to plaster, cement or concrete, and to greatly augment the speed of construction.

More particular objects of this invention are to provide wood lath with an undercut key which will save in plastic material with which it is coated; to provide expanded lath that may be nailed into place by driving nails through the lath itself; to provide a lath that requires no furring, that may be made rapidly with a battery of ordinary circular saws and provide connective ligaments or ribs that run with the grain of the wood; that may be sold at about one-third the cost of metal lath; that will not rust; that will adhere to tar paper and other sheet coating which may be made a part of the lath as a single article of manufacture so that lath and sheathing may be applied at the same time in the same manner as individual strips of lath are applied singly; to provide a lath that will resist the radiation of heat from a building; that will take coatings of asphaltum so that the lath may be advantageously employed for outer walls of buildings; that may be fitted into a coved ceiling on an even curvature and without causing breakage; that will yield about four square feet of lath out of each square foot of timber; to provide a form of lath suitable for poultry boxes and the like for which wood is the most acceptable material; to provide a lath that will not color the plastering through rust and corrosion; and to provide a lath of light weight with the above named qualities that will be improved in keeping qualities by the coating applied to it, such the acid of the mortar acting as a preservative on wood Where iron would rust and deteriorate both itself and the coating applied to it.

W'ith the above-named general objects in view my invention consists in the general construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of expanded lath made up of a half dozen ordinary lath strips which may be nailed on as a single piece.

Fig. 2 is a sectiontakeu on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a blank or thin board sawed preparatory to expansion.

Fig. 4 is a modification or extension of Figs. 1 and 2, showing a combination of lath and sheathing as a single article of manu- .facturc.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

In the several views 2 represents in Fig. 3 a board of about one-quarter inch thickness in which has been saweda plurality of cuts 3, 3 to leave ribs l and individual strips of lath 5 connected by said ribs when expanded as in Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5. In Figs. 1

and 2 the individual strips of lath are held expanded by metal strips 6 bent U-shape into spaces 7 between the spaced-apart strips as shown in Fig.2. In Figs. 4 and 5 the individual laths at are held spaced apart by a coating of paper or sheathing 8, cemented on with asphaltlun or other-suitable adhesive material 9.

The individual lath; or strips of lath 5, are rabbeted or under-cut on their rear sides as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, and their connccting ribs 4. are produced, as shown first in Fig. 3, by making a series of parallel saw cuts 3 formed in one or more rows. If the lower end of each of these saw cuts is termed the initial end and the upper end the terminal end, each cut begins substantially near the middle portion and at one side of an adjacent saw cut and terminates near the middle portion and at the opposite side of another adjacent saw cut. Each saw cut passes between the adjacent and opposite ends of another pair of saw cuts and each saw cut overlaps substantially half of two adjacent saw cuts of a row. In Fig. 3

the grain of the lathratthe juncture between rib and lath strips. In other words the lath and. the rib form a continuous or unbroken wood grain.

Expanded wood lath, unlike expanded metallath, adheres-firmly to the plastic material and instead of deteriorating, rusting I or corroding from the coating and? coloring it, the wood lath is improved in keeping qualities by such coating. The light weight and flexibility that is made uniform by the uniformity of cuts'and parallelism of arrangement of parts, facilitates more rapid work of'construotio-n than is possible; with expanded metal lath through which nails cannot be driven to secure anchorage in the most convenient and acceptable points of wall support for the lath. The light weight and uniform flexibility of my improved wood lath also adapts it :mo'st advantageously for adjustments to bends or curves such asceiling coves and the like.

Having thus described my invention, I

- claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- V a r 1. A wood lath consisting of a board cut by a, series of parallel saw cuts into lath strips and extended apart leaving connecting ribs, which extend-diagonally from strip tostrip, said saw cuts being arranged in a 7 row and each cut terminating atthe middle and near'an adj acent saw out;

:2. Expanded woodlath consisting o-fa series of strips of lath formed by making Gopies of this patent'may he obtained for five cents each; by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

of lath thus for med bein expanded and the rows of saw cuts leaving a slant to the edges of the board and each saw cut in a row beginning near one side of an adjoining saw cut at substantially its middle portion and ending at the opposite side of another adjacent saw cut,the strips drawn apart or connecting ribs between'said strips,

3'. An; expandedswood lath consisting of athin: board sawed into rows of parallel strips and strip connecting ribs, said. strips being expanded apart and'said ribs extending diagonally in one direction from one strip to another, each beginning opposite the middle portion or" one adjacent saw cut and extending to the middle portion and adj acent to another saw cut. 3

4t. A wood lath consisting ing rows of saw cuts therethrongh, each saw of a board havout being inclined relativeto the edges of the board and beginning adjacent .to they middle portion of another saw cut and passing between the ends of other similar saw cuts, said board being expanded and forming strips of lath and diagonal connecting ribs between'said strips,

5. As an article ofmxa-nu'facture an expanded wood lath and sheathing consisting of a. board having one or more rows of parallel saw cuts therethrough, each saw out be ginning at oneside of one saw cutand ending at the opposite side of another saw out, said saw cuts forming diagonally extending connecting ribs between adjacent strips of lath so formed, said lath having at one side ra'bbeted edges forming key grooves and a cover of sheathing-and the like secured to said one side and holding-said lath spaced apart. V

In testimony whereof I have hereunto slgne-d my name.

JOHN AUGUST WALLER.

Washington, -D. G. 

